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Redo of Healer (TV).


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:27 am Reply with quote


Redo of Healer (TV)

Genres: fantasy
Themes: ecchi

Plot Summary: Keyarga is a healer who is used and tossed around by his fellow adventurers on the assumption that healers cannot fight on their own. However, when he achieves the ultimate healing magic, and "heals" the world itself, he goes back four years to redo his life.
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Anime adaptation of the light novel.


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[Pre-emptive warning: Anime News Network welcomes and encouraged discussion of this anime and even the social issues that it touches upon. However rape is never an acceptable punishment and we will not tolerate any posts that even remotely suggest that it is. Furthermore we will not tolerate posts that take glee in the controversy that this show is likely to cause, nor will we tolerate any posts that appear to be trollish or baiting in nature. Finally, we ask that all posters be considerate of those who may read these threads and have past traumatic experiences. Failure to abide by this will result in immediate and permanent removal from our community. -t]  
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3652
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:00 pm Reply with quote
Because of how my brain works, when people were suggesting this show shouldn't exist, I naturally wanted to watch it. But whatever objectionable content there is, I don't think I'm going to be able to get to it, because the writing is awful independent of any of that. It sounds like someone started writing a parody of edgelord revenge fantasies and then forgot he was doing so.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
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Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 3:01 am Reply with quote
Episode 1

Kind of sounds like everyone is warning against this one, but although there are some crass or edgelord elements I did not find the first episode too objectionable. The main motive of the hero seems to be revenge, which is pretty toxic, and not super heroic, where it would probably be better if he actually had a motive of making things better rather than just revenge. I was also thinking that there were hints that the side of the demon lord might not be all bad, and perhaps when he healed her he would have learned her experiences and had some empathy for her cause. You would think that a guy who experiences the awful experiences of others going through might have some sort of empathy as his main driving force.

The reviewers seemed to be saying that this is more than a revenge story, revenge porn, and enters some level of revenge rape, whether our main character is going to take part in some sort of sexual violence in the people who wronged him in his previous life. That would be incredibly gross, I would think incredibly low if this show makes us want to be on the side of something like Goblin Slayer's titular goblins raping people. There are the risks of coming across a bit incel if it especially goes on the side of violence against woman, like sexuality being a power of a man over a woman. But, it has not done that yet, and as much as it could be shooting myself in the foot, I might wait for something like that to happen before making a broad statement. Down with unjust hierarchies, although how deep that will be is yet to be seen. And the promotional art seems not too bad with a group of woman that don't feel like they are the part of some kind of sexual violence.

Responding when something bad happens could at least be interesting.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4085
PostPosted: Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:38 am Reply with quote
Episode 1 - What do you do when all the heroes are dead, the Demon Lord turns out to be the good guy and the mage wants you to hand over the overly precious Philosopher's Stone that was the demons heart that she let the rest of the party die to get? Well, you don't give it to her, that's step one.

In real life, Edgelord means something drastically toxic but in this world, it means you get to see tomorrow on your own terms. Sure, there's "live and let live"... not an option in this world as once Keyarga gained his healing power, his fate was sealed... or "living well is the best revenge"... also not an option as all the villains are called the heroes and they have all the power so it's either be the slave or be the slaver... Nope, it's a crapsack world and the best option is to be the biggest bastard.

Me: Bring it on.

But is it really Revenge if the choice is either do exactly what happened before or Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto You? Long story short: If you liked Shield Hero you're gonna hate this one. Me, I didn't like Shield Hero, absolute hypocrite that he is and all those terrible, terrible themes. "Happiness in slavery", yeah, none for me, thanks. "Karma is Authors fiat" If you can't come up with better reasons for why your main character is both the Put Upon Hero and Always Right then don't do it in the first place.

This one? Great themes, terrible actions.
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CatSword



Joined: 01 Jul 2014
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 12:10 am Reply with quote
Somehow episode 2 exceeded my expectations of how far things were going to go. While episode 1 was more focused on setting up the story other than the wish-fulfillment scene with the maids at the end, I think this episode set the tone for what we're getting for the rest of the series - 10 or 11 episodes of revenge and debauchery. If that sounds distasteful to you, I'd suggest leaving it here.

But for the rest of us, the stakes are really up in the air now. I'm really not sure if this is how far things will go, or...honestly, I'm not sure how they'd top it while this is still on TV. Of course, a lot of these stations also run those edited hentai shorts, so all they probably care about is if the timeslot is paid for.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:24 am Reply with quote
Episode 2

Well, I just watched the hero of this series maliciously rape someone by forcing an alternative of a hot poker instead. It was super distasteful, and it kind of feels like he made it worse by pretty much brainwashing her at the end with an amnesia into sticking around him. It is super messed up.

Granted, a lot of terrible things happened to him too, like under her orders he was drugged, tortured and raped. It is super messed up and reasonable he would super hate her and could feel justified with things. It is just that a hero should be above horrendous acts, that makes me wish that some sort of karma hits him, although perhaps the idea of that itself would be hypocritical when complaining of his revenge.

There is possibly something in this, where the whole him becoming a drug addict did not come across as incredibly silly, and there was better explanations that the trauma done to him was worse. Maybe like if there was some sort of clarity that he himself experiences her whole ordeal, experiencing every violation that would be something about ridiculous the whole revenge thing really is. Rather than it still feeling more like it was justifying revenge.

After this, I think that I have been defiled, I don't want to in any way feel like I find some justification of rape, and going this far in a second episode I think that I am morbidly curious. Ah, I wish there were more consensual sexy anime.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:01 am Reply with quote
Wow, that just might be the nastiest piece of non-hentai anime I've ever seen. I know it can often be a fool's errand to try and interpret the motivations of a creator, but I get the sense that the author of the light novel this series is being adapted from, Rui Tsukiyo, is an actual misogynist who crafted a premise just to write about the torture, rape and humiliation of a female character. Was there a female in Rui's past that did him dirty and this is his way of dealing with it?

You might think that given I wrote the above, I am dropping this like a hot potato. And you would be wrong. It obviously doesn't say anything good about me as a human being that I will continue to watch this utterly mean-spirited work, but I am a little fascinated to see how this all turns out. I'll just have to make arrangements for a soul shower after watching each episode.

And from an in-world logic point of view, I don't understand why Keyarga is putting himself through all the torture he endured the first time around, including getting violated by knights, nightly.

If I understand correctly, he has the power to take on somebody else's magic when he heals them and that's how he's getting so strong (and how he got strong the first time, too). Given that he could just heal people and take their attributes WITHOUT going through all the torture, I wonder why he is doing so? Am I missing something? Should I even bother looking for logic in a show that is really just about over the top and vile revenge fantasies?
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ZingFreelancer



Joined: 26 Oct 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:54 pm Reply with quote
DuskyPredator wrote:

Granted, a lot of terrible things happened to him too, like under her orders he was drugged, tortured and raped. It is super messed up and reasonable he would super hate her and could feel justified with things. It is just that a hero should be above horrendous acts, that makes me wish that some sort of karma hits him, although perhaps the idea of that itself would be hypocritical when complaining of his revenge.


The first episode glossed over his journey with the hero party before reverting the time. The first time around, he was abused for 4 years.
Sex with a hero is able to increase personal level cap, so every night somebody new would come to rape him for that purpose.
Stuff from the first time around that was left out in the first episode.
spoiler[He was kept as a pet in the castle until a hero party was formed. Flare, Brett and Blade journeyed to slay the demon king with their little pet healer. Flare would have MC lick her from time to time and physically abuse him. Blade, being a lesbian was jealous of the attention MC was getting from her crush, Flare. So she beat and physically abused MC. Brett is a homosexual priest who likes to give his boys some tough loving, he is a REALLY twisted bastard. You could say that a lot of the insanity in MC has come from Brett.
MC eventually obtained drug resistance skill and spend a year in the party faking until he got a chance to get back at them.]


DuskyPredator wrote:

After this, I think that I have been defiled, I don't want to in any way feel like I find some justification of rape, and going this far in a second episode I think that I am morbidly curious. Ah, I wish there were more consensual sexy anime.

There will be more rape in future episodes, but also a lot of consensual intercourses
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 2:37 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
... non-hentai anime...
I'm not sure I agree with that description. I mean, what makes it different? The writing certainly isn't distinguishing it.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:48 pm Reply with quote
Yttrbio wrote:
'm not sure I agree with that description. I mean, what makes it different? The writing certainly isn't distinguishing it.

We could get bogged down in semantics here, but my personal definition of hentai is something where sex scenes are extended and form the rationale for the existence of the show. This is a TV series that has some censored scenes that even if unmasked would not be as explicit as your average hentai title and time-wise do not make up a vast chunk of running time.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:38 pm Reply with quote
ZingFreelancer wrote:
The first episode glossed over his journey with the hero party before reverting the time. The first time around, he was abused for 4 years.
Sex with a hero is able to increase personal level cap, so every night somebody new would come to rape him for that purpose.
Stuff from the first time around that was left out in the first episode.
spoiler[He was kept as a pet in the castle until a hero party was formed. Flare, Brett and Blade journeyed to slay the demon king with their little pet healer. Flare would have MC lick her from time to time and physically abuse him. Blade, being a lesbian was jealous of the attention MC was getting from her crush, Flare. So she beat and physically abused MC. Brett is a homosexual priest who likes to give his boys some tough loving, he is a REALLY twisted bastard. You could say that a lot of the insanity in MC has come from Brett.
MC eventually obtained drug resistance skill and spend a year in the party faking until he got a chance to get back at them.]


See, this actually opens up something else I was worried about through the second episode, I was worried that the whole what happened to him might be reflective of some homophobia. Since my suspicion would be that the men raping him might be framed worse than the women raping him, it is not a good sign that he makes the other two evil party members queer also; spoiler[an abusive lesbian jealous of him and an extra abusive gay man].

It is not like you can't have bad homosexual characters, but when done so they should be balanced out by some good ones. At this point I don't see this show putting in great gay and lesbian characters. If somehow it did, then at least in one specific area it would be better than Interspecies Reviewers. Interspecies Reviewers did actually have a rough play episode, where the customers would play the part of rapists, but the episode was pretty thorough in showing how there was actually consent and no one was in danger.
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Redbeard 101
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:38 pm Reply with quote
Yttrbio wrote:
Blood- wrote:
... non-hentai anime...
I'm not sure I agree with that description. I mean, what makes it different? The writing certainly isn't distinguishing it.


I know Blood made the comment, but it's one I've made a lot as well. I think the difference is the target audience and intent behind the show. With hentai it's being made to stimulate and show sexual material. That's the goal, and the target audience are those who want that. With this show it's trying to market itself as a legitimate show, when it's really just another revenge rape porn title. Albeit with less actual sex, and better production values than most hentai.

The difference can be described I think as the difference between say a skinamax cheesy softcore title, and something on say HBO. Most HBO original shows have sex in them. Some more than others. It is not the focal point though. Where as with the softcore title it is. Forget about differences in actual story (or lack there of). Redo can pretend it's trying to be about more than the revenge rape porn, but it's not. That IS the focal point of the story.

Basically it's a way to say that this title is not marketed as a hentai, when by all accounts it really simply is one. Except in this case it's like comparing one of those dumb softcore skinamax movies to a full blown xxx movie. Just simply go all the way. Which they should've done here. They should've just made this a full blown hentai and let it sit in the abyss with all of the other myriad of revenge rape hentai out there now.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:28 pm Reply with quote
Yep, you explained my own thoughts better than I did, Psycho101 - thank you!
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:57 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Wow, that just might be the nastiest piece of non-hentai anime I've ever seen. I know it can often be a fool's errand to try and interpret the motivations of a creator, but I get the sense that the author of the light novel this series is being adapted from, Rui Tsukiyo, is an actual misogynist who crafted a premise just to write about the torture, rape and humiliation of a female character. Was there a female in Rui's past that did him dirty and this is his way of dealing with it?


That's my conclusion of Rise of the Shield Hero but not this one. Shield Hero has a specific target and a righteous, sorry, "righteous" hero which... yadda yadda spoilers... culminated in a "You're calling HER that?" moment. Redo of Healer is a bit more complicated in how it's the entire world that's depraved but also simpler in that not only does it not ask you to identify with its non Iskeai main character, it also shows he's quite insane. Later he gets a new face but still has the same rot inside it.

There was one aspect of the premise that had me concerned, namely the "Baby Hitler exception" time travel plot which applies here, that is to say... going back in time to kill Hitler is one thing but going back in time to kill a baby who grows up to be Hitler is a bit more morally complicated. This show negated that problem by having Keyaru aware of his situation and his upcoming fate but unable to do anything about for some time, giving ample time for Flare to either not be a monster or to be a monster. Flare chose and Keyaru lived through Hell. Again.

I suppose "nicer" people would have wanted Keyaru to talk to Flare about her previous actions as well as her upcoming/"previous" actions and her disregard for anything not herself but I'm pretty sure her answer would have been "Yes, I'm royalty, I know, what's your point?"

However, I can't make any sense of what I saw and give my absolute opinion of it until I see it without the long pans of the wall. Horrible people in a horrible world... that's what I'm here to see. "I Spit on Your Grave" meets Deliverance crossed with Tenchi Muyo.

And Psycho 101, it's easy to see how this is not a Rape Hentai... you can see the guy's eyes so it's not a self insert sexual power fantasy.

One of the themes of this work is how it values life over death. Given the sadly popular reaction Shield Hero got with its "revenge", I take it people would prefer Flare to die rather than suffer Keyaru's fate of becoming a sex slave? Yet with life there's hope for salvation, freedom from bondage but with death there's just the worms.
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DuskyPredator



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:56 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
One of the themes of this work is how it values life over death. Given the sadly popular reaction Shield Hero got with its "revenge", I take it people would prefer Flare to die rather than suffer Keyaru's fate of becoming a sex slave? Yet with life there's hope for salvation, freedom from bondage but with death there's just the worms.


I was not in favour of the revenge in Shield Hero either, I am pretty sure I spoke back when that things could have been done better. And I am not appreciative of needing to get into a conversation of whether death or sex slave is a preferable path for an even evil character. Sure that character might have the future chance of freedom with becoming a better person, but that also comes with the idea of unnecessary torture and violation. The sort of thing where people used to (maybe still do) think that rape jokes at the expense of people in jail are funny and some sort of justice, when compared to the idea that they could just be executed.

Our 'hero' in this show didn't just make her a sex slave, or remove her memory and throw her out on the streets. He erased her memory and then manipulated this now virgin mind into thinking that she was a willing sex slave. If the memory wipe was thorough I would lean towards her now an innocent person, and yet he manipulated her into sex (I would call rape for uneven power dynamics and convinced her that she liked him.

I am kind of blown away by how Goblin Slayer was under such scrutiny for not once having rape be anything close to positive, and how this one looks in comparison. I kind of imagine this idea of a helmeted figure like the Goblin Slayer that would punish all the rapist to not commit acts again, and then turning to the protagonist of this series as now one of them.
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